Sample Logic rev their own engine, cinematic style.
Media composers with an addiction to cinematic virtual instruments will be well aware of Sample Logic’s pedigree in the field through titles such as Motion Keys, Cinematic Guitars Motion, Bohemian and Morphestra 2. Up until now, all of these instruments have been built within Kontakt. However, Sample Logic have how released a first instrument using their own dedicated UltraEngine platform; Ultrasphere. The principles remain similar — Ultrasphere provides a four‑core sound‑design platform built very much with film or TV composers in mind, but the instrument is presented as its own plug‑in rather than requiring Kontakt. I can only assume this gives the company greater control over the features and functionality they feel they can offer. So, does Ultrasphere, with its UltraEngine, go full throttle?
Plus Ultra
While Sample Logic have obviously decided to take their own route here, thankfully the broad layout of Ultrasphere’s front end does not stray too far from their earlier Kontakt‑based instruments. So, built upon a 10GB+ library of samples, the user is presented with a four‑core engine with a powerful X/Y pad blending control located at its centre. An impressive collection of supplied presets — all searchable with a neat tag‑based browser — provides ample reassurance that Ultrasphere is capable of generating some very impressive sounds.
The presets will keep you entertained for some considerable time, but it’s the sound‑design potential that will keep composers coming back. The UltraEngine includes many familiar features across multiple sub‑pages that go well beyond the main four‑core home page display shown within the screenshot here. For example, you can deep‑dive into each individual sound core for access to the sample playback settings, gain envelope, unison detuning and stereo spread, pitch, filter, filter envelope, an FM module, sends and EQ.
You get very flexible send effects (each core has independent send levels) and global effects options, each with four effects slots with any of 18 different effects types available. The modulation options are impressive, with six LFOs (these can use standard waveform shapes or a gate mode for step‑based options) and both key (note) and velocity modulation. All of these offer user configuration.
The Sequencer module options are particularly impressive, with two independent arpeggiators, each of which can be enabled independently for each core. However, the Arp tab also includes a Chord option, enabling you to map a set of chords across 16 keys for easy triggering, and this can be engaged in combination with the arpeggiators.
One further neat feature is located towards the bottom of the main page and provides what are essentially low‑pass and high‑pass filters for each of the four cores. These are in addition to the ability to define MIDI note ranges for each core (these can be found within the individual core controls) but it’s a really useful option allowing you to quickly tailor the overall frequency balance of your sound to suit your needs.
Ultra Sound
Sonically, Ultrasphere is very much within the soundscape‑meets‑evolving‑texture ballpark but it can certainly do melodic options (for example, combined with the arps, there are some very cool Stranger Things vibes to be had) and, with appropriate modulation settings, you can also get some impressive rhythmic pulses to give all those tension cues a little extra urgency. Whether it’s mystery and suspense, lo‑fi grit, gentle washes of pads, deep and subversive, or dissonant and down‑right scary, Ultrasphere will have you covered.
The bottom line here is that busy media composers will undoubtedly find plenty to love.
My hat is duly doffed to the new UltraEngine. It’s quite an ambitious move for Sample Logic to have taken but they have pulled it off with some considerable style. No, Ultrasphere is not cheap (although, at the time of writing, it was available at a discounted launch price) but it is a very impressive instrument. The bottom line here is that busy media composers will undoubtedly find plenty to love, especially once they dig into the sound‑design features the new engine has to offer. These are sounds that could fit happily into any top‑tier film or TV project.
Summary
Sample Logic’s new UltraEngine provides an impressive platform for Ultrasphere. If you want some top‑tier cinematic atmospheres with plenty of sound‑design potential, this is an impressive candidate.